The present invention relates to absorbent articles, such as sanitary napkins, incontinence pads, and panty liners, which have elastically extensible portions coming into planar contact with the wearer's skin.
Absorbent articles with standing gathers, such as sanitary napkins, in which the standing gathers have an elastically extensible portion providing a planar contact with the wearer's skin are known.
However, the standing gathers of conventional absorbent articles do not always feel comfortable to a wearer, rather feeling stiff or providing poor cushioning properties. The feel of standing gathers could be improved by, for example, adjusting the number of the elastic members to be disposed or extensibility of the elastic members. It is difficult nevertheless to achieve desired improvement without impairing the merits of a planar contact, such as a good fit and leakproofness. In addition, conventional elastically extensible portions tend to fail to keep their planar shape stably. They are liable to bunch up or contract in an undesired direction while in use, so that improvements in fit and leakproofness are not obtained.